I’ve been focussing on creating new black and white work recently but when these guys came along I realised they needed a little colour. They are bookworms discussing the merits of “Maisie Hitchins -The Case of the Stolen Sixpence” and the Victorian era in general when lots of people (and worms) really enjoyed wearing top hats. This picture is put together using drawing and collage and features a Marion wallpaper design in the background.
On Wednesday I had a wonderful time at Yaxley Library working with children from Fourfields Primary School and Yaxley Infant School. The children learnt about how to begin illustrating a book and how to come up with characters. After a little drawing practice using Maisie Hitchins and Bella Donna‘s cat Pegatha for inspiration, the children created their own crazy collage creatures. Thanks a million to Sue and to Richard from Cambridgeshire libraries who are both worth their weight in gold. Below are some examples of the children’s rather fabulous work!
I’m delighted to find myself in possession of some of the co-edition copies of the first three Maisie Hitchins stories. It seems that intrepid Maisie has now travelled to France, Poland, Indonesia and America! I love to see the differences between the books, the Amercian edition for example uses a little scroll for the series title “The Mysteries of Maisie Hitchins” and underneath its dust jacket the book is a perfect reproduction of the notebook that Maisie carries everywhere with her – what a lovely detail. Thanks so much to Emily at Stripes Publishing for rounding these up for me!
May saw the launch of the last story in Holly Webb‘s wonderful mystery series Maisie Hitchins. This book is called The Case of the Weeping Mermaid and its action centres around dark and mysterious London docks which were the perfect setting for a front cover. I took photos as I was painting the cover so that I would later remember the different stages and here they all are below from the sketchiest beginnings to the final scan. I always find it challenging painting covers, they seem to go through a lot of different stages and look fairly awful for most of the time until suddenly at the end it all comes together – always a bit of a relief!
A new Maisie Hitchins book has hit the shelves, this one is the 7th in the series and a special favourite of mine because it is so very yellow! This book has an Egyptian theme so I got to draw mummies, sphinxes and burial chambers which I can tell you is a first. Holly Webb has excelled herself this time and Maisie gets into more trouble than ever – it’s a good one! Here are some pictures:
I have just finished my roughs for the next Maisie Hitchins book so it’s time for something a little different. This is one of the drawings I have been doing lately in my sketchbook. It was made with indian ink straight from the pot using the pipette to draw with. I rather like drawing like this because it is very spontaneous and a little bit uncontrollable. When the ink was dry I gave the drawing some colour using Caran D’ache neocolours which are another one of my favourite things. They are sort of pastelly but sort of oil-pastelly too and also can be watercoloury if you wet them! I know, it’s all a bit too much…
I have been working hard this week trying to finish the covers for the next two Maisie Hitchins books so I’m feeling in need of a little light relief! This little fellow strolled out of my sketchbook…
I was asked recently to do some writing for a rather lovely blog called Wonderous Reads which is all about books! Wonderous Reads were interested to know what goes into making a Maisie Hitchins cover, so I put together my thoughts as well as a couple of early sketches for The Case of the Feathered Mask and made a post. It you would like to read about how the Maisie Hitchins covers come into being then have a look here: Marion Lindsay Talks Covers It is a super blog and well worth keeping an eye on if you are a book-lover like me!
I have new Maisie Hitchins books to report!
Holly Webb has been doing lots of writing and I have been doing lots of drawing and the result can be seen in the form of The Phantom Cat, The Feathered Mask and The Secret Tunnel which are all out now. As well as scampering all over London in her adventures, Maisie’s stories are heading over to America where the first book in the series “The Case of the Stolen Sixpence” is going to be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in September. The Case of the Spilled Ink will be coming out in the UK in August too, but I can’t show you any pictures yet I’m afraid! For now here are the new covers:
Both the first book The Case of the Stolen Sixpence and the second The Case of the Vanishing Emerald were released in May and are proving to be popular with small would-be sleuths across the country! You can read some lovely reviews by children on Little Tiger Press’ website and below are some sneak-peeks inside the Stolen Sixpence…
marion lindsay 